Dear fellow tree lovers, I'm sorry I've not written in so long; I hope you will understand. It's not that I've grown tired of arboreal adventures; it's just that a certain new little person in my life is making it tricky to find the time to write them down... She's napping now, in the …
changing views on the green
My National Tree Week began with an oak circle and ended with a cherry avenue - two kinds of man-made treescape, both intended to change and improve views. (It also involved a spot of 'tree dressing' but I'll tell you more about that later.) The cherry avenue grows amongst an oasis of trees, both mature …
trees circles & changing views
We have a thing about planting trees in circles in Tottenham. There’s the iconic Seven Sisters tree circle on Page Green of course, originally made up of seven elms but now comprising seven hornbeams, and then there’s the Millennial Oak Circle on Lordship Recreation Ground. This ring of 12 oaks was planted at the turn …
a recipe for trees
I meant what I said. About trying to grow a tree. Right now, on the condiments rack of my fridge, there are six neatly labelled clear plastic bags, each containing a handful of different tree seeds. Meanwhile, in my north-facing back garden, in an assortment of cracked, tagged and colour-coded pots, lies another batch of …
a tree story and a seed of hope
I began my journey of discovery through trees during a winter tree walk on New Year’s Day, but my love of trees had been slowly growing in the background for much longer than that. It’s hard to say exactly what brought it to the surface at that particular moment. Maybe it was because I’d inherited …
some memories of trees
Before I was born my family nearly moved house but my big sister rejected the new house my parents had chosen because it did not have any 'good climbing trees in the garden'. Consequently, I grew up in a house with a garden that had two huge wild cherry trees growing side by side at the end …
willow weaving beneath the weeping willow
Last month, I tired my hand at willow weaving. Beneath the weeping willow in Tottenham’s Chestnuts Park I joined local residents to help weave a series of round willow pods – their intended destination: the branches of the London plane trees which grace the park’s central path. Fortunately for me, willow artist Angie Baker had already created …
new adventures in tree ID
Lately, I've been starting to look at trees in a whole new light. I've been starting to look more closely at their leaves, and not just for their beauty's sake but because it is the best way to identify their species. In the New Year, when I vowed to lead a more tree-filled life, one …
The seven sisters
I said that I would begin my arboreal adventure by getting to know the trees in my neck of the woods. So it seems about time that I told you the story of the Seven Sisters – the trees my area of London is named after – and the story of how I came to …
walking the line (and the woods)
I love the way that London’s green and wild corners are revealing themselves to me little by little. One day, as I was jogging around Finsbury Park, I noticed a steady stream of walkers and cyclists seeping in and out of a narrow passageway above a railway bridge. Curious, I crossed over the bridge …
Little Wild Tales 